Pa. health-insurance exchange plan stalls

Pennsylvania's insurance chief says a state-run health insurance exchange is unlikely to be ready for a scheduled January 2014 implementation.

PETER JACKSON

HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania's insurance chief says a state-run health insurance exchange is unlikely to be ready for a scheduled January 2014 implementation.

Insurance Commissioner Michael Consedine said Wednesday that development of the exchange has stalled because too many questions about its cost and other important details remain unanswered by the federal government.

The exchange is part of the federal Affordable Care Act.

A 2011 study estimated at least 2 million Pennsylvanians would use the online exchange to find and buy insurance. But Consedine says it's going to be extremely difficult to meet a Nov. 16 deadline for a blueprint of the state exchange.

Antoinette Kraus of the nonprofit coalition Pennsylvania Health Access Network says the federal government will operate a Pennsylvania exchange if the state doesn't act.